This invention relates to so-called blind rivets which typically include a tubular sleeve having an enlarged flange integral with and at one end of the sleeve. A headed pin is passed through the tube with the head in engagement with the tubular end of the rivet and with the other end of the pin extending out of the other end of the tube and beyond the flange portion. In use, the rearwardly extending end of the pin is gripped by a tool which is manipulated to insert the head and tube end of the rivet assembly into a preformed hole in the work piece with the flange of the rivet bearing against the work piece. The tool is then operated to forceably drive the pin rearwardly while maintaining the flange of the rivet in firm abutment with the work piece. As the pin is drawn rearwardly, its head causes the tubular end of the rivet to flare outwardly and to be drawn firmly against the inside surface of the work piece. When the tubular portion of the rivet is flared fully, additional pulling force is applied to the pin which causes it to break at a weakened region near the head, thus enabling withdrawal of the pin from the rivet.
Among the important steps in the manufacture of such blind rivets is the assembly of the pins and rivets so that they can be packaged in a ready-to-use configuration. While a number of machines and devices are believed to have been employed for automatically assembling the rivets and pins, the maximum speed of these machines has been limited to far less an assembly rate than is desirable. By way of example, few, if any such assembly machines have been capable of approaching a rate of 200 units per minute. Efforts to surpass such an assembly speed are believed to have failed in that the machines tend to jam or may improperly assemble or damage the rivets.